新世纪研究生公共英语教材阅读B课文原文及翻译
Unit1
Party Politics
Judith Martin
1. Etiquette at an office party? Why, these people have been socializing happily every working day of their lives, give or take a few melees, rumors, and complaint petitions. All it takes to turn this into holiday merriment is a bit of greenery looped around the office—the staff will soon be looped, too. Surely it is enough that the annual Christmas party has the magic ingredients: time off from work, free food and drink, and a spirit of fun replacing such ugly work realities as sexual harassment.
2. Furthermore, partygoers figure, it offers relief from such pesky obligations as thanking anyone or being kind to wallflowers because there really aren?t any hosts. Nobody has to pay (that same Nobody who generously provides the telephone line for long-distance personal calls), and so nobody?s feelings need be considered.
3. This is all pure hospitality—there for the taking, like the office-supplied felt-tipped pens everyone has been pocketing all year. Out of the natural goodness of its corporate heart and the spirit of the holiday season, the company wishes only to give its employees a roaring good time, and the employees, out of loyalty and the thrill of getting to know their bosses off-duty as equals, delight in the opportunity.
4. For those still dimly aware of the once-standard give-and-take of real social life, this no-fault approach to business entertaining seems a godsend. In the now-rare domain of genuine society, hosts are supposed to plan and pay for the entertainment of their guests, on their own time and in their own houses. Guests have strict duties, as well—from answering invitations to cooperating with all arrangements, even to the extent of pronouncing them perfectly lovely.
5. Business entertaining appears to remove the burdens of time, effort, money, individual responsibility—and the etiquette connected with them. The people who do the planning are paid for their trouble, so those who benefit need not consider they have incurred a debt. Why, the annual Christmas party ought to be an inspiration to lower-level employees to work their way into realms where company-sponsored partying can be enjoyed all year long.
6. Not so fast. Flinty Miss Manners does not recognize any holidays from etiquette. (Employees, if not employers, should consider themselves lucky that she is only on the Party Committee, not the one that might take up ethical questions about those pens and calls.) Office parties differ from private ones but are no freer from rules.
7. If it were indeed true that everyone has a better time without etiquette, Miss Manners could easily be persuaded to take the day off. But having long served on the Office Party Etiquette Cleanup subcommittee, she is aware that things generally do not go well when there is no recognized etiquette and everyone is forced to improvise.
8. Let us look at all this spontaneous, carefree fun: There being no proper place for the boss, he or she hangs around the door, concerned about mixing with everyone. It might discourage hospitable bosses to see guests staring at them in horror and then slithering in by a side door. But etiquette?s solution of having everyone greeted in a receiving line was rejected as too stiff. So one can hardly blame employees for recalling a long-ingrained principle of the workplace: Seeing the boss and having a good time are best not scheduled at the same time.
9. Desperate to make the time count, the boss grabs the nearest available person and starts
delivering practiced words about the contribution he makes to their great enterprise. The reaction is not quite what was hoped for. Discreet questioning establishes that this is an employee?s guest. He doesn?t work for the company, recognize the boss, or appreciate the attention—and, as a matter of fact, has only a passing acquaintance with the employee who issued the invitation. What this guest wants is not professional fellowship but a fresh drink, if the boss would kindly step out of the way.
10. Now, the reason the invitation said “and guest” was to avoid the ticklish issue of who is still married to whom and what the spouse calls itself. Last year, unmarried employees were furious when their partners were not included, and married employees complained that the forms by which their spouses were addressed were offensive: “Mrs.” offended women who preferred “Ms.,” and wives who had the same surnames outraged everybody who didn?t. This year, the complaints will be from spouses who were not told that there was a party or who were told that spouses weren?t invited—but found out otherwise. There won?t be many complaints. They will, however, be memorable, darkly charging the company with promoting immorality.
11. Meanwhile, what about those who are interested in promoting a bit of immorality, or just plain romance, of their own? They, too, are creating problems that will reach far into the new year. True office romances are the least of them, with their charges of favoritism and melding professional and personal time. More serious is the fact that, in spite of the liquor and high spirits, it still counts as sexual harassment when anyone with supervisory powers makes unreciprocated overtures to a lower-ranking employee. And foolhardy when a lower-ranking employee annoys a higher-ranking one.
12. Some employees have their minds only on business and will be spending party time actively promoting workaday concerns. Remembering the company rhetoric about open communications and all being in this together, they will actually seek out the boss, who by this time is grateful to be addressed by anyone at all.
13. But they do n?t want to engage in platitudes. They accept compliments with: “Well, then how about a raise?” They plead for promotions, explain confidentially who ought to be fired, and advance previously submitted ideas about revolutionizing the business that have been unaccountably unappreciated for years. In one evening, they manage to cut through the entire hierarchy and procedures the boss has painstakingly established for the purpose of being spared this kind of importuning.
14. Eventually—usually somewhat late in the party—it occurs to someone that this informal setting is just the time to offer the boss some constructive personal criticism. What else does talking frankly and informally mean but an invitation to unload opinions without any career consequence?
15. Here is where the company has pulled a fast one on its employees. “Go ahead,” it has said, “relax, have a good time, forget about the job.” And the naive have taken this at face value. This event is called a party—a place where one lets loose without worrying about being judged by the cold standard of professional usefulness.
16. Even employees who adhere strictly to standard business dress in the office may not know what the bosses might consider vulgar in evening wear. Here is a chance to show off their racy and imaginative off-duty clothes. But over there are supervisors murmuring that people who look like that can?t really be sent out to represent the company.
17. Worse are the comments on anyone whose idea of fun is a little boisterous. It may be just the
behavior that makes one a delight—or a trial—to one?s friends. But here, it is not being offered for the delight or tolerance of friends. It is being judged on criteria other than whether the person is a riot.
18. It is not that Miss Manners wants to spoil the office party by these warnings. She just wants to prevent it from spoiling careers. And the solution is what was banished from the party for being too inhibiting: etiquette.
19. The first formality that must come back is inviting everyone by name. The practice of merely counting every invitation as two is as dangerous as it is unflattering. But people who have been clearly identified and told that they must respond—the suggestion must be made neutrally, to show that the party is a treat, not a requirement—already have some sense that they are both individually sought after and expected to be responsible.
20. What constitutes a couple is a murkier question than Miss Manners and any sensible employer ought to investigate, but employees simply can be asked to supply the name of a spouse or friend they want to invite. (An office party can be limited by confining it to employees, in which case it should be held during office hours. But inviting spouses and such is better. Having to work is enough distract ion from one?s more intimate relationships, and the staff was not compiled like a guest list, according to personal compatibility.
21. Since we have established, Miss Manners hopes, that the point of an office party is not whooping it up or telling people off, what is it? It is showing appreciation of the staff.
22. This starts with a well-run receiving line. However much popular opinion may regard receiving lines as nasty ordeals, they were invented to be, and remain, the easiest way to get everyone recognized by the key people. The oldest receiving-line trick in the world still works: Someone whose business it is to know everyone—or someone unimportant enough to be able to ask each guest his name—announces the guests to the host as they go through the line. The host can then scornfully declare: “Of course I know Annette. We couldn?t run this place without her.” For extra charm, the employee?s guest is also told how wonderful that employee is. This always seems more sincere than straight-out flattery, and from then on, whenever the employee complains that everyone at the office is an idiot, the spouse will counter by repeating that appreciation.
23. It is often erroneously assumed that the style of the party ought to be what employees are used to: their own kind of music, food, and other things the executive level believes itself to have outgrown. Nonsense. What employees want is a taste of high-level entertaining. This may vary greatly according to the nature of the business. If, however, the party is too formal for the employees? taste, they?ll get a good laugh and enjoy the contrast all the more when they continue partying on their own afterward.
24. The clever employee will dress as the executives do, keeping in mind that there are few fields in which people are condemned for looking insufficiently provocative. Refusing or limiting drinks is not the handicap at business parties that it may be under the overly hospitable eye of a private host. And the real opportunity for career advancement is not petitioning a boss but rescuing one who has been cornered or stranded, thus demonstrating that one knows how to talk charmingly about nonbusiness matters.
25. At the end, there is another receiving line. That is, the bosses plant themselves conspicuously by the exit, grabbing the hand of anyone trying to get away and thanking him for coming. Even the dimmest guest will then realize it is appropriate to thank back—that is, to realize that something has been offered and deserves gratitude.
26. After all, isn?t that why the office Christmas party is given?
27. If the only goal were for the company to show the staff its appreciation, this could be effectively done with a day off and a bonus to go with it.
第一单元
晚会之道
朱迪丝?马丁
1. 办公室晚会礼节？有这个必要吗？员工们每天开开心心地彼此交往，虽然时不时会推推撞撞，发生点儿口角，传播点儿谣言，或是联名写点儿投诉信。然而，只要将办公室稍做节日般的布置，所有这一切的不愉快即刻会化为其乐融融的喜庆气氛。员工们也很快会陶醉于其中，乐而忘忧。每年一次的圣诞晚会的确具有这种神奇的因素：扔下手头的工作、免费品尝美酒佳肴、还有肆意尽兴的狂欢，所有这一切均将诸如性骚扰之类令人厌恶的工作现实抛到九霄云外。
2. 参加晚会的人也明白这种场合省去了许多麻烦的礼节性应酬。因为没有东道主，所以不必特意感谢什么人，或是费神与缩在角落里没人理睬的客人搭讪。既然不是哪一个人买单（同样也不是哪一个人慷慨地为来宾提供免费私人长途电话），所以哪一个人的感受都不需要考虑。
3. 所有这一切均为盛情款待——每个人都可以欣然接受，就像平日里一直顺手牵羊把办公室的毡头墨水笔放入自家口袋一样。基于公司的企业精神和节日欢庆的气氛，公司此时只希望为员工提供一次狂欢的聚会。而员工出于对公司的忠心，再加上能与老板们工余之际平等相识的兴奋，所以也就乐不可支地享受这一美好时刻。
4. 对那些仍然隐约记得生活中有付出才有获得之理的人而言，这种无忧无虑的公司娱乐简直就像是神赐的福祉。在现今这个罕有免费款待的社会，东道主需要花时间和精力在自己家招待来宾。而来宾也同样负有重任——从回复邀请、应承一切安排，直到礼貌地啧啧称赞晚会举办得无懈可击。
5. 公司娱乐似乎将时间、精力、金钱、个人义务以及与之有关的各种礼节负担统统抛开。组织晚会的人有偿付出，因此，参加晚会的来宾不必担心愧欠人情。一年一次的圣诞节本来就应该让低级别的员工感到一种理想氛围，那就是公司出钱筹办的晚会全年均可免费出席。
6. 先别想得太美了。严肃的礼节小姐可是从来不休假的（职员们，暂且不提雇主们，可真得庆幸自己还算走运，因为她只在晚会委员会任职，未在办公文具和私打公司电话清查委员会工作）。公司晚会有别于私人晚会，但礼节之道却一丁点儿也未变。
7. 如果不讲礼节大家会玩得更开心，那么礼节小姐真该放假休息了。但是在公司晚会礼节清查委员会供职数年以来，礼节小姐意识到，如果人人都任意性情不顾及相应的礼节，晚会往往不会尽如人意。
8. 我们一起来看看这种所谓即兴无忧的娱乐：老板不知道该呆在什么地方才好，他或她在门口徘徊，一心想着与众人打成一片。见到来宾惶恐地盯着自己，然后从边门溜进会场，此番情景足以令热情的老板心灰意冷。但是若采用旧时迎宾队列的方式与每个来宾逐一打招呼，又会显得过分迂腐和拘束。所以说，很少有人不同意员工们长期以来坚信的一条上班信念：觐见上司和尽情享乐最好不要同时发生。
9. 老板急于把握机会，于是顺手抓住身边最近的人，然后滔滔不绝地大讲自己事先反复练习过的一番赞美之辞，盛扬此人对公司的贡献。可是对方的反应却是始料不及。细心询问几句才知此人只是公司一位员工带来的客人，既不在公司工作，又不认识眼前的老板，甚至对方才的盛誉之辞也无动于衷——事实上，此人与邀请人也只是一面之交。这位客人此时需要的不是同行的友情，而是一杯提神的饮料。劳驾老板，请您让路。
10. 另外，邀请函上通常注明“以及佳宾”之类的话，目的是为了避开谁和谁仍是伴侣以及配
偶如何称呼等敏感问题。去年，未婚的员工因为自己的伴侣未曾获邀而愤愤不平；已婚的员工由于自己配偶的称呼不当而牢骚满腹；“夫人”得罪了那些喜欢用“女士”称呼的来宾；冠用丈夫姓氏的太太们冒犯了那些不用丈夫姓氏的太太们。而今年，抱怨又会接踵而来。这次是因为起初没有人告知配偶公司举办晚会的消息，或是配偶被告知晚会不邀请家属参加。然而，事后这些配偶却发现事实并非如此。当然这类抱怨不会源源不断。但是这些配偶会记住此事，并私下斥责公司唆使员工不诚实。
11. 对于那些有意想欺瞒配偶或意欲发展一段浪漫恋情的人而言，情形会怎样呢？他们同样也会惹上来年都难以摆脱的麻烦。这些人之间很少会孳生真正的办公室恋情，因为此类行为难免有待人偏袒和公私混淆之嫌。还有更为糟糕的情形：尽管可以用酗酒过多和情绪兴奋作为托辞，但是上司戏谑一位无动于衷的下属的行为仍会被视为性骚扰；同样，下属对上司做出类似的举动则会被认为蛮勇无知。
12. 有些员工心里只想着工作，在晚会上跃跃欲试地提出自己的业务宏图。他们牢记公司曾倡导的自由交流精神，置身于此时此地，这班人会找到老板以求畅所欲言。而老板此刻正巴不得有人过来同自己打招呼。
13. 然而这些人并不想和老板只说些客套话，他们回应老板的称赞时会说：“给我加工资怎么样？”他们会恳求晋升，并胸有成竹地向老板解释谁应该被炒鱿鱼。接着他们进一步提出改进公司业务的建议，这些建议其实好几年前已经提出，但却不知为何无人赏识。他们试图在短短的一夜之内，逾越老板多年来千辛万苦构筑的用于抵挡这类恳求的层层阶梯和壁垒。
14. 最后——通常在晚会进入尾声阶段——有些人会忽然想起这种轻松的环境正是向上司诤谏的最佳时机。无拘无束、开诚布公不就意味着一吐为快而不必担心影响自己的事业前途吗？
15. 其实在这个问题上员工被公司迷惑了。公司说：“去吧，尽情地娱乐，忘掉工作。”幼稚的人会信以为真。认为这是晚会——一个让人彻底放松、为所欲为的场合，不必担心苛刻的职业行为规则的约束。
16. 即使是那些平日严守上班着装规定的员工，可能也无从知晓哪类晚装在老板们看来低俗不堪。他们会误以为晚会是展示自己大胆而有创意的休闲服饰的好机会。但是不远处的上司们可能正在私下嘀咕，认为穿那种服装的人绝不能被委派出任公司的代表。
17. 更糟糕的是那些尽情取乐、喧闹不止的员工。一个人令他人喜欢或厌恶很可能只取决于这个人的行为举止本身。但是员工在晚会上的行为不再是这种简单的令旁人产生好恶感的表现，而是被用来判断某人是否属于狂暴之徒的标准。
18. 礼节小姐提出上述警告并非旨在破坏公司晚会的快乐气氛。她只想防止晚会毁掉员工的事业前途。而这类问题的解决之道是曾因过分拘束而被晚会摈弃的方法：礼节。
19. 首先需要恢复的礼节是在发出邀请时写明每个受邀人的姓名。以往简单地把每一份请柬按两个人计算的做法既不保险又不能讨好他人。对那些被指明并告知需回复邀请的人而言——当然告知时的语气应尽量中立，表明晚会只是一次款待并非务须之事——他们应该意识到各自分别获邀并需回复是否出席。
20. 谁和谁结伴出席晚会是令礼节小姐和任何一位明智的雇主都感到难以查清楚的事情。不过可以让员工自己填写同行的配偶或朋友的姓名。(公司晚会可以只限于内部员工参加，并在上班时间内举行。但是邀请员工配偶或朋友参加效果会更好。因为外出工作已经疏离了员工同家人密友间的关系，而且平日员工工作时也不会象来宾名单那样按照彼此的意气是否相投进行组合。)
21. 礼节小姐希望上述所言已经表明公司晚会的目的不是任意嬉戏玩闹或是对他人说长道短。那么应该是什么呢？晚会的目的应该是表达对员工的感谢。
22. 这首先需要有一个安排恰当的迎宾队列。虽然许多人认为这种方式简直是活受罪，但一
直以来却是每位来宾得以被大人物认识的最好方法。旧时最古老的作法仍然奏效：一位专职负责问清客人姓名的人——或是一位无关紧要但又可以询问每位来宾姓名的人——在客人走过迎宾队列时向主人通报该客人的姓名。主人听到时可能会开玩笑地说：“我当然认识安娜特，公司没有她可不行。”更妙的是，员工的随行客人会听到人们称赞邀请自己的这位员工。这些赞美之辞比直截了当的奉承话听上去要真诚得多。而且，从此以后，如果哪位员工抱怨公司里的人都是蠢货，其配偶就会用曾在晚会上听到的称赞予以反驳。
23. 人们经常错误地认为公司晚会应该以员工们习惯的方式举办：他们喜欢的音乐、食物、还有高级管理层人士弃置不顾的其他东西。这就大错而特错了。员工们想要的其实是更高级的娱乐。高级与否视公司的不同性质而定。即便晚会太过正式，员工们也同样会开心地尝试不同的风格，然后再按自己的方式尽情娱乐。
24. 聪明的员工会在穿着上与上司们保持同一风格，因为他们深知，几乎没有哪个场合有人会因为穿得不够惹眼而被人指指点点。在公司晚会中拒绝或尽量少喝酒的做法无人指责，但在私人晚会中碍于主人好客的目光这种行为会很难堪。另外员工寻求仕途晋升的真正机会不是恳求上司，而是替陷入尴尬局面的人解围，因为这样可以表现出该员工懂得如何愉悦地高谈工作之外的话题。
25. 最后，还需另外一个送客队列。此时老板们一动也不动地站在抢眼的出口处，握住每位想离开的来宾的手，感谢他的光临。此时，即使是最懵懂的客人也会意识到应该回谢一番——也就是说，意识到应该感谢这番好意。
26. 公司圣诞晚会不就是为此而举办的吗？
27. 如果公司只想对员工表示谢忱，那么，放一天假外加一个红包就足矣。
Unit 2
The New Singles
Carla Power
Increasing numbers of Northern Europeans are choosing to live alone
1. You know the type. Eleanor Rigby, who picks up the rice in the church where the wedding has been. Austin Powers, proud owner of a Lava lamp, lush chest hair and an equal-opportunity libido. Bridget Jones, of the wobbly ego and much-watched answering machine. The Single, long a stock figure in stories, songs and personal ads, was traditionally someone at the margins of society: a figure of fun, pity or awe.
2.Those days are gone. In the place of withered spinsters and bachelors are people like Elizabeth de Kergorlay, a 29-year-old Parisian banker who views her independence and her own apartment as the spoils of professional success. Scooting around Paris in her Golf GTI, one hand on the wheel and the other clutching her cell phone, de Kergorlay pauses between calls to rave about life alone. “I?m not antisocial,” she says. “I love people. But living alone gives me the time and space for self-reflection. I?ve got the choice and the privacy to grow as a human being.”
3.As the sages would say, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn?t the stuff of gloomy philosophical meditations, but a fact of Europe?s new economic landscape, embraced by demographers, real-estate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyles, observes French sociologist Jean-Claude Kaufmann, is part of the “irresistible momentum of individualism” over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have wreaked havoc on Europeans? private lives. More and more of them are remaining on their own: they?re living longer,
divorcing more and marrying later — if at all. British marriage rates are the lowest in 160 years of records. INSEE, France?s National Institute of Statistics, reports that the number of French people living alone doubled between 1968 and 1990.
4.The home-alone phenomenon remains an urban and a Northern European trend: people who live in rural areas — as well as Spaniards, Greeks and Irish — tend to stick to families. By contrast, Scandinavians, Dutch and Germans like to live alone: 40 percent of all Swedes live alone, as do seven million Britons —three times as many as 40 years ago. According to the recent report “Britain in 2010” by Richard Scase, professor of organizational behavior at the University of Kent, single-person households will outnumber families and couples within a decade. In London?s tonier neighborhoods like Kensington and Chelsea, about half of all households are people living alone. In Germany this year, 56-year-old divorcee Bernd Klosterfelde produced a CD called “Alone No More.” Featuring 15 tracks of household noises with titles like “Nothing on TV; At Least the Chips Are Good” and “The Fridge Is Finally Full Again,” it promises people who live alone “62 minutes of togetherness.”
5.Europe?s new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence. The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe?s shift from social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American-style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today?s tech-savvy workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics. Modern Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone, and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so. A recent poll by the Institute Francais d?Opinion Publique, the French affiliate of the Gallu p poll, found that 58 percent of French respondents viewed living alone as a choice, not an obligation. Other European singles agree. “I?ve always wanted to be free to go on adventures,” says Iris Eppendorf, who lives by herself in Berlin. “I hate dreary, boring, bourgeois living —it?s not interesting.”
6.Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage —twenty-something professionals or widowed senior citizens. While pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a hefty proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. “The Swedish word for someone living alone used to be ensam, which had connotations of being lonely,” notes Eva Sandsteadt, author of “Living Alone in Sweden.” “It was conceived as a negative — dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then along came the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong! Now, young pe ople want to live alone.”
7. The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn?t leave much room for relationships. Pimpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn?t got time to get lonely because he has too much work. “I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult.” Only an Ideal Woman could make him change his lifestyle, he says. Kaufmann, author of a recent book called “The Single Woman and Prince Charming,” t hinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates, so relationships don?t last long — if they start at all. Eppendorf, a blond Berliner with a deep tan and chronic wanderlust, teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she?d never have wanted to do what her mother did —give up a career to raise a family. Instead, “I?ve always done what I wanted to do: live a self-determined life.”
8. A self-determined life doesn?t come cheap. In capitals like Stockholm, Rome or Berlin, high
rents mean that only big earners can afford their own housing. Proportionally, more professionals live alone: in France, one in five career women live alone, compared with one in ten working women. The French government recently allotted nearly 77 million francs to people in their early 20s who wanted to move away from home, but couldn?t afford to. Parisian banker de Kergorlay?s apartment allows her the luxury of b eing able to “read, cook, write and entertain without having to make compromises.”
9. Such freedom can be addictive, particularly for women, notes sociologist Kaufmann. “Women are still expected to be the housewife in couples,” he notes. “It?s very hard f or women to fight against this idea, so the only way they can attain sexual equality is to live alone.” De Kergorlay hasn?t ruled out marriage, but wouldn?t give up her freedom for a man. “If I were to get married,” she explains, “I would still want my own room —an escape zone where I can be by myself.” https://www.doczj.com/doc/d718501372.html,lions of singles yearning for escape zones or solitude are straining Europe?s city housing market. Over the next 15 years, the British population is set to decline, but the number of houses will rise by 25 percent —an increase largely accounted for by single people. Southeastern England is undergoing a major building boom: the British government has authorized the construction of 860,000 new homes, mostly for the middle classes. Real-estate brokers note a rise in the number of young singles who work mad hours and treat their homes like dorms. In London, luxury complexes with tiny flats, gyms and easy access to urban pleasures are springing up for young and driven professionals. Single-person households promote gentrification: when singles move into the neighborhood, say geographers, latte bars, gyms and restaurants are sure to follow, and local music, theater and art galleries thrive. “Singles are a real benefit to French cultural life,” says Olivier D onna, of the French Ministry of Culture and Communications. “Without them, you are left with couples and families who prefer to stay at home and watch TV.”
11.Women, it seems, enjoy singledom more than men do. According to Scase, single women —unlike men —tend to live near single friends, forming networks that serve as neo-families. Restaurants, gyms and latte bars function as living rooms, as do pubs —a trend that?s made young urban women a mainstay for the British drinks industry over the past five years. By contrast, the bachelor tends to stay in. “The man who lives alone is very much the sad case,” says Scase. “They really do watch videos and drink beer.”
12.For some young urbanites, renting “The Matrix” and reaching for a lager is a much-needed escape — particularly for those in New Economy careers like media, advertising or information technology. “My whole job is communicating,” says Katherine Edwards, whose job as public-affairs manager for the British supermarket chain Tesco takes her out to parties and dinners a couple of times a week. “The last thing I want to do when I come home is communicate.” For Richard Moore, managing director of a sport-promotions company, his 1870s south London house is a refuge from work. The peace and quiet is such a luxury, says Moore, that “I?ll live alone until I meet the girl I?m going to marry.”
13.Living alone doesn?t mean living without romance. Jan Trost, a sociologist at the University of Uppsala, has studied Europe?s rising incidence of what he calls LAT, or living alone together, in which committed couples opt for separate residences. In an increasingly mobile work culture, professionals often work in separate cities or even countries, using e-mail, phones and meetings on weekends to sustain relationships. Married types who have bickered once too often about toothpaste caps or dust bunnies are opting to live apart in peace rather than together in stress. And divorced or widowed people who hook up later in life tend to have set ways and long personal
histories with the requisite complications: “Should my piano or your piano be the piano?” says Trost, imagining a hypothetical discussion. “And photos: my grandchildren or yours? It?s simpler to keep your own house.”
14.The move from cozy families to urban singledom opens new vistas for marketers. In the past, the holy grail for advertisers was the couple with 2.3 children. No longer, argues Scase. Today?s companies should think of high-earning singles as a key market. Gone are the days of the clamorous family gathered around a table groaning with home-cooked food. A third of Britons eat dinner alone at least four times a week — and prefer eating alone to eating with others, according to a British National Opinion Poll. Small wonder that Britain?s market for ready-made convenience foods has doubled in the last five years.
15.A host of other singles services have sprung up, from dogwalkers to alarm systems to agencies that will water your plants or bring you aspirin and coffee when you?re hung over. Compact cars and mobile phones, the major props of modern European city life, have solid markets among European singles. Bouygues Telecom / France Telecom estimates that a hefty percentage of cell-phone users are young home-aloners; a quarter of Smart cars, tiny vehicles designed for city driving, are sold to twenty- and thirty-something singles who “churn” or change partners instead of settling down. It?s a marketing man?s dream: a demographic with the anxieties of teenagers and the bank accounts of the middle-aged. Instea d of saving for their kids? college education, the home-aloners are prepared to fork out on personal-fitness trainers, seaweed cellulite wraps and stiletto heels. “You have to be concerned about presenting yourself if you live in a more mobile society,” says Scase. “Appearance is no longer a young person?s concern. And [singles] have the money to spend on it.”
16.Living alone may bring freedom, but not necessarily buoyant health or better sex. A recent Dutch study of 19,000 people found chronic disease was 30 percent higher among singles. “Married people are healthier,” says the University of Rotterdam?s Inez Joung, who conducted the study. “They smoke and drink less. Single and divorced people are more likely to commit suicide and have liver disease, diabe tes or lung cancer.” The playboy magazine promise of singledom as a portal to sublime sex doesn?t hold, according to Hamburg University sexologist Gunter Schmidt. Having studied the sex lives of 3,000 young Germans, he estimates that 90 percent of all heterosexual sex occurs in long-term relationships. Half of the young singles surveyed weren?t having any sex at all. And good sex, according to Schmidt, pretty much remains the privilege of the attached: only 40 percent of singles said they enjoyed sex, compared with 80 percent of people in relationships. “The sexual world of singles is rather gray,” says Schmidt. “They make a huge effort to produce a little sex that?s not even satisfying.”
17.Life can get even tougher as home-aloners age. Once retired, work?s not there to provide a steady income or social life. Bad health and fear of crime can turn freedom into frightening solitude. In Sweden, groups of individuals have started about 50 co-housing projects designed for singles or couples in the second half of their lives. At Fardknappen, a state-built group home in Stockholm for people “in the second half of life,” the feel is less that of an old person?s home than a college dorm, with its buzzing modems, cheeky political cartoons and blue-jeaned, sandal-shod residents. Nightly group dinners aren?t mandatory, though people do have to pitch in and cook for a week every two months. And they?re worth going to, to hear Fardknappen?s 55 residents buzz with tales of recent trips to jazz clubs, to Cuba and South India.
18.The fusion of independence and community for older people has proved popular: the
seventy-year old group has waiting list of 75, and visitors from Japan and the United States tramp through to learn about the Swedish method of aging gracefully. “Living like this enables old people to have freedom,” explains Mette Kjorstad, a divorcee who moved to Fardknappen after her two kids left home. “And it?s a great relief for people?s children —they?re free of a lot of guilt.” Guilt-free families? Now that?s a s ign of a seismic societal shift if ever there was one.
第二单元
新单身族
卡拉?鲍威尔
越来越多的北欧人选择单身生活
1.你知道他们是这样的人：在举行过婚礼的教堂里捡大米的埃莉诺?雷格比；胸毛浓密、性欲旺盛、以拥有熔岩灯而感自豪的奥斯丁?鲍威尔斯；个人意识模糊不清、总是期待录音电话响起的布里奇特?琼斯。这些单身人士过去一直是故事、歌曲和个人广告中的常见人物，传统上这些人处在社会的边缘：滑稽有趣、让人怜悯或令人敬畏。
2.那些日子已经一去不复返了。现在的单身族不再像过去那些面容枯槁的老处女和鳏夫，而是像伊丽莎白?克尔戈莱这样的人。伊丽莎白?克尔戈莱是个29岁的巴黎银行家，她把拥有独立生活和自己的公寓看成是事业成功的结果。她开着漂亮的德国Golf GTI牌小汽车快速地在巴黎兜着风，一手扶着方向盘，另一手抓着手机，在打电话的间歇中热情洋溢地谈论着单身生活。她说：“我不厌恶社交，我喜欢与人交往。但是独自生活使我有时间和空间自我反省。我作为一个人有权选择并不受干扰地成长。”
3.正如圣人们所言，我们最终都将是单独一人。但是越来越多的欧洲人在很年轻的时候就决定过独身生活。这不是悲观的人生思考，而是欧洲经济新气象，受到人口学家、房地产发展商和广告商这类人的普遍欢迎。法国社会学家让?克劳特?考夫曼评论这种从家庭生活到独身生活模式的过渡是上个世纪不可抗拒的个人主义趋势的组成部分。通信技术的革命、商业文化从稳定性过渡到流动性以及大量妇女进入产业大军都对欧洲人的私生活产生巨大冲击。越来越多的欧洲人在步入独自生活，因为他们寿命更长了、离婚更多了并且结婚也更晚了——如果他们还要结婚的话。现在英国的结婚率在160年的记录中最低的。据法国国家统计局的报道，在1968到1990年期间法国独身的人翻了一番。
4.独自生活的现象一直是都市和北欧的趋势：生活在农村的人们——以及西班牙人、希腊人和爱尔兰人——倾向于过家庭生活。与此相反，斯堪的纳维亚人、荷兰人和德国人喜欢独自生活：40%的瑞典人独自生活，七百万英国人独自生活——这是40年前的3倍。根据肯特大学组织行为学教授理查德?斯凯斯最近的“2010年的英国”的报道，单身家庭数量将会在十年内超过两人或两人以上的家庭。在伦敦的肯辛顿和切尔西这样的“贵族”区，大约有一半的房子里住着独自生活的人。在德国今年56岁的离异者伯恩德?克劳斯特费尔德创作了一盘称作“不再孤独”的CD。该碟片的特点是有15段家庭生活的录音，如“电视没什么节目；最起码薯条还是不错的”和“冰箱终于又满了”，它为独自生活的人们提供了“62分钟归属感”。
5.欧洲的新经济气候大大地鼓励了独立的趋势。当代独自生活的这一代人的成长时期正是欧洲从社会民主政治过渡到更精明、更个性化的美国风格的资本主义气候的时期。成长在私有化和日益买方市场时代的当今熟谙技术的工人象接受自由经济那样也热情欢迎爱情自由。现代的欧洲人相当富有，有财力独自生活；而且他们性格独立，希望独自生活。法国公众民意
研究所（盖洛普民意测验法国分部）最近的调查发现，被提问的法国人中有58%的人认为独自生活是一种选择而不是一种强迫。其他欧洲单身一族也这样认为。独自住在柏林的艾丽丝?埃彭道夫说：“我一直想要随心所欲地去冒险。我讨厌沉闷、令人厌烦的中产阶级生活——一点都没意思。”
6.以前独自生活的人都是一些处在婚姻生活之两端的人们——20多岁的专业人员或寡居的老人。领取养老金的人，特别是上了年纪的妇女，构成了独自生活人群的绝大多数；而新一批单身族则是30到40岁的高收入人士，他们日益认为独自生活是一种生活方式的选择。《在瑞典独自生活》一书的作者伊娃?桑德斯蒂德注意到：“瑞典语过去曾用ensam称呼独自生活的人，蕴涵孤独之意。独自生活被认为是消极的——黑暗而且寒冷，而家庭生活则意味着温暖与光明。但是新单身族的观念则不然。他们年轻、美丽、强壮！现在，年轻人希望独自生活。”
7.繁荣的经济意味着人们比以往任何时候都要更努力工作。这就无法为交往留出很多的空间。35岁的作曲家平庇?阿罗约独自居住在巴黎的一所房子里，说他无暇感到孤独，因为有很多事要做。“我总有工作要赶在期限内完成，这就使得我与他人在一起生活相当困难。”他还说只有“理想妻子”才能改变他的生活模式。最近出版《单身女人和白马王子》一书的作者考夫曼认为，这种狂热的新个人主义意味着人们对配偶的期望越来越多，因此相互之间的关系持续不长——如果能有开始交往的话。埃彭道夫是个金发碧眼的柏林女人，有着晒成褐色的皮肤，并且嗜好旅行。她上午在一所小学教书，下午则去日光浴或睡觉，以便彻底地休息，然后去跳舞。她还不到50岁，她说她从未想过要象她母亲那样生活——放弃事业，以便照看家庭。而“我一直在做我想要做的事：过自己选择的生活。”
8.过自己选择的生活一点也不便宜。在像斯德哥尔摩、罗马或柏林这样的首都城市，房租很高，这意味着只有高工资的人才付得起自己的住房。按比例来算，有更多的专业人员独自生活：在法国五分之一的职业妇女独自生活，而在蓝领工作妇女中的比例则是十分之一。法国政府最近为那些二十多岁想搬出去住但又负担不起的年轻人拨款七千七百万法郎。巴黎银行家克尔戈莱的公寓使她能十分舒适地“无拘无束地读书、煮饭、写作和娱乐”。
9.社会学家考夫曼提到这种自由会令人上瘾，特别令妇女上瘾。他说：“在夫妻关系中，人们依然期待妇女做内当家。妇女要与这种观念斗争是非常困难的，所以她们能获取男女平等的唯一方法就是独自生活。”克尔戈莱并不排除结婚的可能性，但是她不会为了一个男人而放弃自己的自由。她解释说：“如果我要结婚，我仍要有自己的房间——一个属于我自己的自由空间。”
10.数以百万计的向往自由空间或喜欢独居的单身族使得欧洲房地产市场供给紧张。在未来15年里，英国的人口将会下降，但房屋的数量将会增长25%——这种增长主要来自单身族的需求。英格兰的东南部正经历主要的建房热：英国政府已授权建造860,000所新住宅，主要是为中产阶级而建。房地产经纪人注意到年轻单身族人数的上涨，这些人工作起来很疯狂并把家当成宿舍。在伦敦，为年轻人和以事业为重的专业人员建造的豪华综合楼群正拔地而起，这儿有小套公寓、健身馆以及便利的交通去享受都市的娱乐。单身住房促进了地区贵族化：地理学家说，当单身族搬进邻近地区时，咖啡酒吧、健身馆和饭店就一定会跟进来，并且当地的音乐、剧院和艺术馆也会繁荣起来。“单身族对法国的文化生活带来了真正的好处，”法国文化和通讯部的官员奥利弗?唐娜说道，“没有他们，那就剩下只愿呆在家里看电视的夫
妇和家庭。”
11.妇女好象比男人更会享受单身生活。根据斯凯斯的观点，单身女人——与单身男人不同——倾向于住在单身朋友附近，形成新型家庭般的朋友圈。饭店、健身馆和咖啡酒吧就像酒馆一样起到客厅的作用——这种趋势使得都市妇女在过去的五年里成了英国酒业的主要支柱。相反，单身汉则倾向于呆在家里。斯凯斯说：“独自生活的男人是非常悲哀的。他们确实在看录像和喝啤酒。”
12.对某些都市年轻人来说，租看录像、碟片和品味啤酒是一种十分必要的逃避——特别是对于那些职业与新经济的有关的人，如：媒体、广告或信息技术。“我的工作就是交际，”凯瑟琳?爱德华说道。作为英国超级市场特斯科分部公共事务部经理，工作使她每周都有两三次的社交和宴请机会。“当我回到家后，最不愿意做的事就是交际。”体育促销公司执行董事理查德?穆尔把他的伦敦南区建于19世纪70年代的老房子当成他逃离工作的避难所。穆尔说，平静和安宁是如此难得，“我要独自生活直到遇上我心仪的女子。”
13.独自生活并不是指生活中就没有浪漫。乌普萨拉大学的社会学家简?特罗斯特研究了欧洲出现的越来越多的一起而又独自生活的LAT现象，也就是：决定在一起生活的双方选择分开居住。在工作流动性越来越大的社会里，专业人员经常在不同的城市里甚至在不同的国家工作，他们利用电子邮件、电话和周末见面来维持关系。那些曾经常为牙膏帽或尘屑等这类琐事争吵的已婚男女，倾向于和和气气地分开居住，而不是关系紧张地住在一起。离婚或丧偶的人再次与他人和聚的时候，往往已有自己固定的生活方式和长期形成的复杂的个人需求。特罗斯特在假设一个讨论的情形时说：“是留下我的钢琴还是留下你的钢琴？是把我孙子和孙女的照片挂起来还是挂你的？而保留自己的房子就简单多了。”
14.搬出舒适的家到都市独自生活为商家提供了新的前景。过去，广告商最看重的是有两三个孩子的夫妇。斯凯斯说情况不再是这样了。如今的公司应该把高收入的单身族当成重要的市场。吵吵嚷嚷一家人围坐在饭桌边吃自家做的饭的日子已经一去不复返了。英国人中有三分之一的人每周至少有四次独自吃饭——根据英国国家民意调查，他们更喜欢独自吃饭而不是与人一同吃。怪不得英国市场的便利熟食在过去五年里增长了一倍。
15.其它一系列为单身服务的项目也涌现出来，从带狗散步、安警报系统到为你浇花或在你宿醉时给你送阿司匹林和咖啡的服务机构，应有尽有。小型汽车、移动电话这类欧洲都市生活的主要工具，在欧洲单身族中拥有稳定的市场。博格斯电信\法国电信估计使用移动电话的人中有相当多是独自生活的年轻人。史马特车——为都市设计的小汽车——有四分之一是卖给那些经常换伴侣而不安家的20和30来岁的单身者。这正是销售商的梦想：一个具有十来岁孩子的渴望而又有中年人的银行账户的群体。独自生活的人们不必为孩子上大学而储蓄，他们乐意把钱开支在个人健身设备、海藻脂肪膜和高跟鞋等上面。斯凯斯说：“如果你居住在移动性较大的社会，你就要关心如何展现自我。外表不再是只有年轻人才关心的事了。而且单身族在这上面花得起。”
16. 独自生活会带来自由，但是并不一定会带来轻松愉快的健康或更好的性生活。最近荷兰对19,000人的研究表明，单身族中患慢性病者要高出30%。从事该项研究的鹿特丹大学的伊内兹?荣格说：“结婚的人更健康，他们较少喝酒、抽烟。单身和离了婚的人更有可能会自杀，更可能会患有肝病、糖尿病或肺癌。”根据汉堡大学性科学专家冈特?施密特的观点，《花
花公子》杂志所认为的单身是通向崇高性生活的途径的看法是不成立的。冈特?施密特研究了3,000名德国年轻人的性生活，他推测90%的异性恋的性生活基于长期的关系。有一半受调查的单身者根本就没有性生活。根据施密特的调查，好的性生活在相当程度上是相互依托者的特权：只有40%的单身者说他们享受性生活，而有长期异性关系的群体则是80%。“单身者的性世界是暗淡的，”施密特说道。“他们非常努力地过一点点但又不能令人满意的性生活。”
17.当独身者上了年纪，生活就更艰难了。一旦他们退休，就没有工作来提供稳定的收入或社交生活。不健康的身体和对犯罪的担心会使得自由变成令人恐惧的孤独。在瑞典，一些群体发起了为单身或夫妇后半生而设计的50项合住工程。在国家拨款修建的位于斯德哥尔摩的费德克纳蓬“后半生”集体住宅里，感觉上不象老人院，而像大学宿舍，这里有嗡嗡作响的调制解调器、厚颜无耻的政治人物的漫画和穿着蓝色牛仔和凉鞋的居民。虽然每两个月人们确实要花上一周的时间积极投入炊事准备，但集体晚餐并不是强制的。然而很值得一去，还可以听听费德克纳蓬的55位居民吵吵嚷嚷地谈论着最近去爵士俱乐部、去古巴和印度南部的故事。
18.将自立引入老年社区已被证明很受欢迎：70岁的老人组有一份75人等候加入的名单，来自日本和美国的访客长途跋涉到此来了解瑞典的体面养老方法。“这样生活使得老人有自由，”梅特?基约斯塔德解释道。梅特?基约斯塔德离了婚，在她的两个孩子离家后住进了费德克纳蓬。“对老人的子女来说是很大的宽慰——他们不会感到内疚。”存在没有内疚的家庭吗？这种迹象表明我们有可能正在经历一次巨大的社会变革。
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Unit 4 Text
The Cultural Patterning of Space
Joan Y Gregg
1. Space is perceived differently in different cultures. Spatial consciousness in many Western cultures is based on a perception of objects in space, rather than of space itself. Westerners perceive shapes and dimensions, in which space is a realm of light, color, sight, and touch. Benjamin L. Whorf, and his classic work Language, Thought and Reality, offers the following explanation as one reason why Westerners perceive space in this manner. Western thought and language mainly developed from the Roman, Latin-speaking culture, which was a practical, experience-based system. Western culture has generally followed Roman thought patterns in viewing objective “reality” as the foundation for subjective or “inner” experience.It was only when the intellectually crude Roman culture became influenced by the abstract thinking of Greek culture that the Latin language developed a significant vocabulary of abstract, nonspatial terms. But the early Roman-Latin element of spatial consciousness, of concreteness, has been maintained in Western thought and language patterns, even though the Greek capacity for abstract thinking and expression was also inherited.
2. However, some cultural-linguistic systems developed in the opposite direction, that is, from an abstract and subjective vocabulary to a more concrete one. For example, Whorf tells us that in the Hopi language the word heart, a concrete term, can be shown to be a late formation from the abstract terms think or remember. Similarly, although it seems to Westerners, and especially to
Americans, that objective, tangible “reality” must precede any subjective or inner experience, in fact many Asian and other non-European cultures view inner experience as the basis for one?s perceptions of physical reality. Thus although Americans are taught to perceive and react to the arrangement of objects in space and to think of space as being “wasted” unless it is filled with objects, the Japanese are trained to give meaning to space itself and to va lue “empty” space. For example, in many of their arts such as painting, garden design, and floral arrangements, the chief quality of composition is that essence of beauty the Japanese call shibumi. A painting that shows everything instead of leaving something unsaid is without shibumi. The Japanese artist will often represent the entire sky with one brush stroke or a distant mountain with one simple contour line—this is shibumi. To the Western eye, however, the large areas of “empty” space in such paintings make them look incomplete.
3. It is not only the East and the West that are different in their patterning of space. We can also see cross-cultural varieties of spatial perception when we look at arrangements of urban space in different Western cultures. For instance, in the United States, cities are usually laid out along a grid, with the axes generally north/sough and east/west. Streets and buildings are numbered sequentially. This arrangement, of course, makes perfect sense to Americans. When Americans walk in a city like Paris, which is laid out with the main streets radiating from centers, they often get lost. Furthermore, streets in Paris are named, not numbered, and the names often change after a few blocks. It is amazing to Americans how anyone gets around, yet Parisians seem to do well. Edward Hall, in The Silent Language, suggests that the layout of space characteristic of French cities is only one aspect of the theme of centralization that characterizes French culture. Thus Paris is the center of France, French government and educational systems are highly centralized, and in French offices the most important person has his or her desk in the middle of the office.
4. Another aspect of the cultural patterning of space concerns the functions of spaces. In middle-class America, specific spaces are designated for specific activities. Any intrusion of one activity into a space that it was not designed for is immediately felt as inappropriate. In contrast, in Japan, this is not true: walls are movable, and rooms are used for one purpose during the day and another purpose in the evening and at night. In India there is yet another culturally patterned use of space. The function of space in India, both in public and in private places, is connected with concepts of superiority and inferiority. In Indian cities, villages, and even within the home, certain spaces are designated as polluted, or inferior, because of the activities that take place there and the kinds of people who use such space. Spaces in India are segregated so that high caste and low caste, males and females, secular and sacred activities are kept apart. This pattern has been used for thousands of years, as demonstrated by the archaeological evidence uncovered in ancient Indian cities. It is a remarkably persistent pattern, even in modern India, where public transportation reserves a separate space for women. For example, Chandigarh is a modern Indian city designed by a French architect. The apartments were built according to European concepts, but the Indians living there found certain aspects inconsistent with their previous use of living space. Ruth Freed, an anthropologist who worked in India, found that Indian families living in Chandigarh modified their apartments by using curtains to separate the men?s and women?s spaces. The families also continued to eat in the kitchen, a traditional pattern, and the living\dining room was only used when Western guests were present. Traditional Indian village living takes place in an area surrounded by a wall. The courtyard gives privacy to each residence group. Chandigarh apartments, however, were built with large windows, reflecting the European value of light and
sun, so many Chandigarh families pasted paper over the windows to recreate the privacy of the traditional courtyard. Freed suggests that these traditional Indian patterns may represent an adaptation to a densely populated environment.
5. Anthropologists studying various cultures as a whole have seen a connection in the way they view both time and space. For example, as we have seen, Americans look on time without activity as “wasted” and space without objects as “wasted.” Once again, the Hopi present an interesting contrast. In the English language, any noun for a location or a space may be used on its own and given its own characteristics without any reference being made to another location or space. For example, we can say in English: “The room is big” or “The north of the United States has cold winters.” We do not need to indicate that “room” or “north” has a relationship to any other word of space or location. But in Hopi, locations or regions of space cannot function by themselves in a sentence. The Hopi cannot say “north” by itself; they must say “in the north,” “from the north,” or in some other way use a directional suffix with the word north. In the same way, the Hopi language does not have a single word that can be translated as room. The Hopi word for room is a stem, a portion of a word, that means “house,” “room,” or “enclosed chamber,” but the stem cannot be used alone. It must be joined to a suffix that will make the word mean “in a house” or “from a chamber.” Hollow spaces like rooms, chambers, or halls in Hopi are concepts that are meaningful only in relation to other spaces. This pattern of spatial perception among the Hopi seems to be similar to their pattern of time perception, in which periods of time are not seen as separate pieces of duration, as they are in the Western cultures, but are integrated as pieces of a connected pattern.
6. Anthropologists do not know why one culture develops one type of time-space perception and another culture develops another type. Spatial perceptions may be adaptations to specific environments: the degree of population density; the amount of arable land; the absence or existence of natural barriers such as the sea or mountains; the amount of distinguishing landmarks in a region. For instance, among some Eskimo peoples, whose environment is a vast snow plain with few landmarks visible for most of the year, spatial perception is highly developed. The Eskimos must learn to make careful distinctions among different spatial elements, as their lives may literally depend on these distinctions when they are hunting far from home.
7. In some cultures a significant aspect of spatial perception is shown by the amount of “personal space” people need between themselves and others to feel comfortable and not crowded. North Americans, for instance, seem to require about four feet of space between themselves and the people near them to feel comfortable. On the other hand, people from Arab countries and Latin America feel comfortable when they are close to each other. People from different cultures, therefore, may unconsciously infringe on each other?s sense of space. Thus just as different perceptions of time may create cultural conflicts, so too may different perceptions of space. (from Communication & Culture, 1992)
第四单元
空间的文化模式
琼?Y?格雷格
1. 不同的文化对空间有着不同的感觉。西方许多国家对空间的意识是基于对物体在空间的感觉，而不是对空间本身的感觉。西方人对形状和维度的感觉，就是空间是一种光线、颜色、视觉和触觉的领域。本杰明?沃尔夫在他的经典著作《语言、思维和现实》中，就用
下面的解释来说明西方人为什么会以这种方式来感觉空间。西方的思维和语言主要源于以拉丁语为母语的古罗马文化，而这是一种基于实际和经验的体系。一般来说，西方文化已经采用古罗马人的思维模式，把客观“实体”视为主观或者内在经验的基础。一直到这种在知性上不成熟的古罗马文化受到希腊文化抽象思维的影响的时候，拉丁语才发展出一套意义重大的词汇—抽象的非空间术语。但是空间意识和具体化的古罗马—拉丁成分已经在西方思维和语言模式中保存了下来，尽管也继承了希腊人的抽象思维和表达能力。
2. 然而，有些文化语言系统朝着相反的方向发展，就是从一套抽象、主观的词汇发展到一套更为具体的词汇。例如，沃尔夫告诉我们，在霍皮语中，“心”这个字，是一个具体的术语，可它是在先有了“思维”和“记忆”这种抽象术语之后才形成的。同样地，尽管在西方人，特别是美国人看来，客观的、有形的“实体”一定要先于主观的或者内在经验，但实际上，许多亚洲和非欧洲文化把内在经验看成是对有形的实体感觉的基础。因此，虽然美国人被教导在空间中感知物体的排列和做出反应，会认为除非空间中充满物体，否则就是“被浪费了”，而日本人却被训练为对空间本身赋予意义，对“空旷”的空间赋予价值。例如，在许多日本艺术中，像绘画、园林设计、插花艺术等，布局的主要特性是日本人称之为美的精髓的“素雅(shibumi)”。一幅画包罗万象，而不是留有空间，这体现不出美的精髓。日本艺人常常画笔一刷，就呈现出一片天空；或者用一条简单的轮廓线条绘出远处的一座山峰。然而，在西方人的眼中，画中的大片“空旷”的空间使画显得还缺了点什么东西。
3. 东西方不仅仅是在空间模式上存有差异。当我们观察西方不同文化中城市规划的时候，还体会各种各样跨文化空间的感觉。例如，在美国，城市的布局通常是沿着一个网格展开，轴心一般是南北向和东西向。街道和建筑物按顺序编号。当然这种安排对美国人来说是完美的。当美国人在像巴黎这样的城市漫步时，他们往往会迷路。因为巴黎的街道是从中央辐射开来的。此外，巴黎的街道是命名的而不是按序编号的，而且常常不用经过几个街区，街名就变换了。美国人对当地人如何能够到处行走大为疑惑，而巴黎人却显得行动自如。霍尔在《无声的语言》一书中认为：法国城市空间布局的特点仅仅是反映法国文化特征中中央集权的一个方面。因此巴黎是法国的中心，法国政府和教育系统高度集中。在法国人的办公室里，最重要人物的办公桌就摆在其中央。
4. 空间文化模式的另一个方面涉及到空间的各种功能。在美国的中产阶层，特定的空间是为特定的活动而设计的。任何活动，一旦跨越其特定空间，人们立刻就会觉得不合事宜。相比之下，在日本就不是那么回事了。墙壁可以移动，房间使用的目的白天和晚上是不一样的。在印度，又是另一种空间使用的文化模式。印度的公共和私人场所在功能上均有优劣的概念。在印度的城市、乡村、甚至是家庭里，某些场所因为所从事的活动和使用这些场所的人的缘故而被认定是肮脏或者卑劣的。印度的空间是给隔离开来的，以便社会等级高的和等级低的、男的和女的、世俗的和神圣的活动都分隔开来进行。这种模式沿用了几千年，在印度古城挖掘出来的考古证据就说明了这一点。即便在现代的印度，这种空间模式仍旧相当的清晰和顽固，哪怕是在公交车上也要把妇女使用的空间隔离开来。例如，昌迪加尔是印度的一座由法国建筑师设计的现代化城市。公寓大楼均按欧洲理念建造，但是住在那里的印度人却发现某些方面与他们以前居住的空间模式不一致。在印度工作的人类学家鲁思?弗里德发现，居住在昌迪加尔城的许多印度家庭都改造了他们的公寓，用窗帘把男人和女人的空间隔离开来。只有自家人时，他们就仍然依照传统模式在厨房里吃饭, 而有西方客人光临时他们才启用客厅或是饭厅。传统的印度乡村生活在一周围墙里边进行, 院子给每户人家提供了隐私的空间。然而，昌迪加尔城的公寓大楼, 建有很多宽敞的窗户，从而折射出欧洲人对光线与阳光的重视。而许多昌迪加尔城的家庭却把窗户玻璃上糊满了纸张以便重建传统式院落的隐私空间。弗里德认为这些传统的印度模式也许反映出人们对人口密集型环境的一种适应。
5. 从整体上研究不同文化的人类学家已经察看到了时间观与空间观之间的联系。例如，正
如我们所察看到的，美国人把没有活动的时间看作是“被浪费了的时间”，把没有物体的空间看作是“被浪费了的空间”。霍皮人再一次提供了有趣的对比。在英语中，任何表示地点或者空间的词都可以单独使用，能呈现出各自的特征而无需任何参照。例如，在英语里，可以说：“这房间很大”或者“美国的北方冬天很寒冷”。我们无需表明“房间”或者“北方”与任何其他表空间或地点的词语有联系。但在霍皮语里，地点或者空间地域的词语本身不能在句子里单独使用。霍皮人不能单独地使用“北方”这个词，他们得说“在北方”、“从北方”或者用另一种方式给“北方”这个词加上一个方向性的后缀。同样地，霍皮语没有一个单词能够被翻译成“房间”。霍皮语中的“房间”是词干，是意思为“房屋”，“房间”或“居室”词的一部分，但是不能单独使用，必须加上后缀才使这个词表示“在房子里”或“从居室”。霍皮语中像“房间”、“居室”或“大厅”这些表示空洞空间的概念只有跟其他空间关联时才具有意义。霍皮人的这种空间感觉模式似乎与他们对时间的感觉模式相似。在西方文化中，各时段被认为是时间延续过程中的独立片段，而在霍皮语中却要将各时段连结成连续统一体。
6. 人类学家不知道为什么一种文化会产生一种时空观，而另一种文化却会产生另一种时空观。空间观也许是对特定环境的适应：人口稠密的程度、耕地的多少、像海与山这样的天然屏障的有无以及一个地区特征性陆标的多少。例如，爱斯基摩人的环境是一片辽阔的雪原，几乎终年见不到什么陆标，于是他们的空间感就得到了极大的发展。他们得学会区分各空间元素之间的细微差别，因为这是他们远离家园外出打猎时赖以生存的技能。
7. 某些文化对于空间感觉的一个重要方面就体现于人们所需的彼此感觉舒适却又不觉拥挤的“私人空间”。例如，北美人彼此感觉舒适所需的空间距离大约是４英尺。而阿拉伯人和拉美人反而是彼此靠近才会感觉舒服。因此，不同文化的人可能会无意间侵犯别人的空间感。正如不同的时间观可能会造成文化上的冲突，不同的空间观也会引发同样的问题。
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Unit 5 Text
Can You Raise a Polite Kid in this Rude World?
Suzanne Chazin
Mention ill-mannered children and most people roll their eyes at the memory of a little hellion and his boorish parents. I still get angry about an incident that happened last summer.
1. We were staying at a country inn that had a small movie theater. Bef ore every evening?s presentation, my husband and I instructed our three-year-old son to sit quietly. Except for an occasional whispered question, he sat in rapt attention.
2. The soundtrack, however, was impossible to hear. That?s because two children bou nced on their seats, talked loudly and raced up and down the aisles. Never once did I see a parent. After several evenings of this, I followed the children to the dining room. There sat a man and woman enjoying
a relaxed meal.
3. “My family is having a har d time watching the film with your children running all over the theater,” I said. “Do you think that if they?re not interested in the movie, you could keep them out here?” The father regarded me coolly. “We?ve paid for the use of the inn?s facilities,” he said. “Our children can go anywhere they please!”
4. I was dumbfounded. What could make a seemingly rational couple condone behavior that was so obviously rude? Have we as a society become so consumed with our own needs and the impulses of our children th at everyone else?s rights are ignored?
5. “Take a look at television these days, and it?s becoming almost commonplace to be arrogant and crude,” notes psychologist Thomas Achenbach of the University of Vermont.
6. While teenagers laugh at the vulgar antics of “Beavis and Butthead,” their parents yuk it up
with the acerbic “Married With Children” and the brash “Roseanne.” The assault on manners doesn?t just come in the form of comic relief. Witness the abominable display last September of Baltimore Orioles second baseman Roberto Alomar, who spat in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck before millions of fans.
7. All of this seems to have a profound effect on kids. Comparing assessments of American children in the mid-1970s and the late 1980s, Achenbach found that children in the latter group were, on average, more impulsive and disobedient than their counterparts a decade and a half earlier. The fraying of the nuclear family and the demands on working parents, many experts believe, have produced a generation of children who can program a computer but don?t know how to write a thank-you note.
8. Even parents who strive to teach their children manners are appalled at how easily those lessons can be undone by what takes place beyond their homes. Leann Aykut of Scottsdale, Ariz., knows this well. One day her 11-year-old son found his sister using his telephone in his room. “Get off my phone,” he yelled, calling her an obscene name. Aykut raced to her son?s room. “You?ve no right to talk to your sister like that,” she scolded. The boy shrugged. He explained that a friend had been arguing with his mother and called her by that term. “We never talk that way in this house,” Aykut said firmly.
9. While you can?t protect your children from what goes on outside your home, exp erts believe that with patience and persistence, parents can do a lot to make their children beauties in our world full of beasts.
Be a Model.
10. When a 16-year-old Florida high-schooler came home from volleyball practice one day, she appeared troubled. “What?s wrong?” her mother asked. The teen explained that her coach chose another girl over her best friend for the varsity team. Her friend?s mother was livid. Driving the girls home, she flew into a rage, cursing and calling the coach all sorts of names.
11. Many parents seem to have adopted the attitude “My child, right or wrong”—with devastating results. “Being a parent means being mature enough to help a child adapt to disappointment,” Achenbach says. “Parents who can?t accept when their child isn?t No. 1 send the message that when you?re frustrated, you blame the source of frustration instead of looking for a way to cope.” Instead of urging a child to study harder for better grades, some parents blame the teacher. Instead of punishing a child for violating a school policy, they battle the policy.
12. A better message, experts say, is to teach children that while they cannot always control the outcome of every situation, they can control how they respond. “Children must learn to behave more gallantly tha n they feel,” says “Miss Manners” columnist and author Judith Martin. Being gallant, says Martin, is about more than simply saying “please” and “thank you.” It?s about not boasting or calling someone names behind their back, about winning fairly and losing graciously, and treating everyone with respect.
13. Of course, all the training in the world won?t persuade a child to behave gallantly if his parents become aggressive, demanding and rude at the slightest provocation. That?s why experts agree the best w ay for parents to improve a child?s manners is to improve their own first.
14. Parents need to be especially vigilant not to say something casually that they may be alarmed to hear later in the mouths of their children. A wife who tells her husband to shut up and a father who calls a neighbor a jerk are likely to hear their children speak the same way to them.
15. “If we aren?t practicing good manners, how can we expect our children to?” notes etiquette
author and “Ms. Demeanor” columnist Mary Mitchell.
Prompt and Praise.
16. “You?re such a mess; you never clean up your room.” “You?d better write that thank-you note or you?re not watching TV.” “Don?t you raise your voice to me.” Most parents have said these things to their children. They?re meant to correc t behavior. Why, then, do they fail so miserably?
17. Because rude behavior in children is more often the result of thoughtlessness than of deliberate aggression. Criticism, name-calling and orders only make a child angry and defensive. They reinforce the notion that the child is incapable of good behavior without coercion.
18. A better approach is something Alan Kazdin, a psychologist at Yale University, calls prompt and praise. Before an event the parent explains the expected behavior in a noncritical way: “When we visit Aunt Mary today, I?d be so proud if you could shake her hand and pull out her chair at dinner.” Afterward, praise the child: “I really liked the way you shook Aunt Mary?s hand and offered a chair.” Says Kazdin, “The idea is to do this ofte n enough so you can eventually move away from the prompt and just give the praise.”
19. But what about the times when a child has already committed an offending act? “Correct the child by blaming it on the house rules,” advises etiquette consultant Joan Ho pper. Every family should have some basic rules that everyone agrees on and will follow.
20. So rather than saying “You?re such a slob. Get your elbows off the table,” a parent can simply state, “Our family rule is that elbows don?t go on the table.” By co rrecting the behavior rather than the child, you defuse a child?s defensiveness and keep the correction from sounding like an order.
21. A criticism delivered this way does tend to get results, as Ellen Weeks, 15, of West Hartford, Conn., will attest. Ever y morning, Ellen?s parents or one of her friends? parents would drive a group of students to school. When the car pulled up, Ellen used to wordlessly plunk herself in the back seat, sit silently, then rush out of the car at the school curb.
22. One morning after Ellen had hopped into the car, the driver, a father of one of the girls, turned around and asked, “How come no-one says …good-morning? to me?” “I?d never thought about it from his perspective before,” Ellen admits. “I?m glad he told us how he felt.” Now she and the others say “good-morning” when they get into the car.
Have Dinner Together.
23. Coretta Jefferson?s household is like many across America. The mother of two in Weston, W. Va., often doesn?t have the energy to coordinate everyone?s schedule around a sit-down dinner. Her eight-year-old son plays baseball and soccer, and her husband has a pool tournament two nights a week. “Gathering together for dinner is important,” she says, “but I can?t see it happening in my lifetime.”
24. Experts say that a half-hour to an hour of sit-down family time each day may be the most important thing par ents can do for their children. “Co-operation, punctuality, conversation skills and respect are all learned around the dining table,” says etiquette teacher Tiffany Francis.
25. Even if a family can?t eat together every night, they should strive to get tog ether at least once or twice a week. That means switching on the telephone answering machine and shutting off the television. “Dinnertime is not simply about eating but about sharing your day as a family,” says Mary Mitchell. It?s a time when parents can g ently impart their values and morals without sounding as if they?re lecturing.
Develop Rituals.
26. Attitudes of respect, modesty and fair play can grow only out of slowly acquired skills that
parents teach their children over many years through shared experience and memory. If a child reaches adulthood with recollections only of television, Little League and birthday parties, then that child has little to draw on when a true test of character comes up—say, in a prickly business situation. “Unless that chil d feels grounded in who he is and where he comes from, everything else is an act,” says etiquette expert Betty Jo Trakimas.
27. The Dickmeyers of Carmel. Ind., reserve every Friday night as “family night” with their three children. Often the family plays board games or hide-and-seek. “My children love it,” says Theresa, their mother.
28. Can playing hide-and-seek really teach a child about manners? Yes, say Trakimas and others, because it tells children that their parents care enough to spend time with him, he is loved and can learn to love others. “Manners aren?t about using the right fork, agrees etiquette instructor Patricia Gilbert-Hinz. “Manners are about being kind—giving compliments, team-playing, making sacrifices. Children learn that through their p arents.”
29. While children don?t automatically warm to the idea of learning to be polite, there?s no reason for them to see manners as a bunch of stuffy restrictions either. They?re the building blocks of a child?s education. “Once a rule becomes second nature, it frees us,” Mitchell says. “How well could Michael Jordan play basketball if he had to keep reminding himself of the rules?”
30. Judith Martin concurs. “A polite child grows up to get the friends and the dates and the job interviews,” she says, “because people respond to good manners. It?s the language of all human behavior.”
第五单元
你能在这样粗鲁的世界里培养出彬彬有礼的孩子吗?
苏珊娜?查津
一提到无礼的孩子, 大多数人都会因回想起惹是生非的小孩以及其粗鄙的父母而皱起眉头。对去年夏天发生的一件事至今我还余怒未消。
1. 我们住在一间带有小电影院的乡村客栈。每天晚上电影放映之前，我和丈夫都教育三岁大的儿子坐好别说话。除了偶尔小声问问题外，他都全神贯注地坐着。
2. 然而，我们却没有办法听到电影的声音，因为有两个小孩在座位上蹦蹦跳跳、大声嚷嚷、还在过道上跑来跑去。我从来没有见到过他们的家长在场。就这样过了几个晚上, 有一次，我就跟踪这两个孩子到了餐厅。在那里有一男一女正清闲地吃着饭。
3. “你们的孩子在影院里到处乱跑，我们一家人无法看电影，”我说，“如果他们没有兴趣看电影的话，你可以叫他们离开吗？”那位父亲冷冷地看着我。“我们对使用客栈的设施付过钱了，”他说，“我们的孩子想去哪里就去哪里。”
4. 我顿时目瞪口呆。这对夫妻看上去挺讲道理的，是什么让他们能够容忍如此明显的不礼貌行为呢？作为社会的一份子，我们是否已经变得一心只想着自己的需求和满足孩子的欲望从而忽视了他人的权利呢？
5. “看看如今的电视节目，傲慢和粗鲁几乎是家常便饭，”佛蒙特州立大学的心理学家托马斯?奥肯博杰注意到。
6．当孩子们被漫画人物《比维斯和巴特里德》的低俗、滑稽动作逗得大笑的时候，他们的父母也因辛辣的情景喜剧《有孩子的家室》和粗鲁的情景喜剧《罗斯娜》而哈哈大笑。其实，粗俗的行为不仅仅以喜剧性调剂的形式出现。人们不妨看看去年巴尔的摩“黄鹂”棒球队的第二守垒员罗伯多?阿洛马的恶心表现，他居然在几百万球迷面前，朝裁判约翰?赫什伯克的脸上吐口水。